Metabolism Study (Yamishiro)

Process Photo Works, b&w photograph, orange slices, acrylic sheet, metal frame, silicone, 1995

Metabolism Study (Yamishiro), 40 in. X 96 in.each, early stages of orange reaction with image.

One of a series of experimental photo process works using thin orange slices in contact with a photographic surface as an activation element. In this work the left, lighter printed portion of the image focuses on the power system of the WWII Japanese battleship, Yamishiro, in the darker printed, right portion, the orange slices are positioned at or near potential explosive sites/shell hits from an unknown enemy.

The Yamishiro, commissioned in 1917, weighing nearly 40,000 tons, was retrofitted in 1935 with a power plant that produced 75,000 hp, lost in the battle of Surigao Straight at 10-22N, 125-21E in 600 ft of water, on October 25, 1944 with a loss of about 1400 men, after receiving four hits from destroyer torpedos and 14-16 in shells from US battleships.

 

 

Photo Process Works main page; xroloffx2 essay by Mark Bartlett